THE AVANT/GARDE DIARIES recently had the privilege to sit down with cultural ambassador Aaron Rose to discuss a piece of artwork very near and dear to his heart: The Watts Towers in Los Angeles. Created by hand using salvaged materials from the nearby train yard, Italian immigrant Simon Rodia was able to craft one of the more unlikely pieces of avant-garde architecture in the last half-century. Comprised of 17 interconnected sculptures, Rose calls them “a testament to the power of creativity itself.”